that he has seen Hegio's son arriving at the harbour along with Philocrates and a runaway slave Stalagmus, who had once stolen Hegio's younger son. Hegio tells Ergasilus to go indoors and arrange a feast. He departs to the harbour. Ergasilus speaks excitedly of the feast he is going to prepare; then he goes inside. Hegio finds his younger son Act 4.4–5.1 (909–929): iambic octonarii (14 lines), bacchiac (6 lines), tr8 (2 lines) A slave boy comes out and describes how Ergasilus is creating havoc in the kitchen. Hegio arrives, praising the gods. He brings with him Philocrates, Stalagmus and his son Philopolemus. Act 5.1 (cont.)–5.4 (930–1036): trochaic septenarii (99 lines) Hegio thanks Philocrates for bringing back his son, and Philocrates begs him to release the faithful Tyndarus. Hegio agrees to free him without payment, and invites the two young men to go inside to bathe. Meanwhile Hegio questions Stalagmus, who freely admits that he ran away and sold Hegio's younger son to Philocrates' father. Hegio immediately calls Philocrates to come outside. After questioning Stalagmus, Philocrates confirms that Tyndarus is Hegio's missing son stolen 20 years previously. Tyndarus now arrives, describing the horrors he has endured in the stone quarries. Hegio greets him as his son, and Philocrates explains what has happened. Hegio calls for a blacksmith to remove Tyndarus's heavy fetters and put them on Stalagmus. Key themes Unlike most of Plautus’ comedies, this play offers little in the way of sexual titillation and instead concentrates on rather serious subjects: personal freedom, slavery and war. Although the mistaken identity elements of the plot are sometimes played for laughs and the sponger Ergasilus is brought on for some silly stage business, there are also quite serious speeches about the fate of slaves and the realities of war. In fact, the play begins with Philocrates and Tyndarus heavily and painfully shackled, and the harshness of their treatment counterbalances the humorous by-play that Plautus injects into the proceedings to keep his audience amused. The protagonist Hegio is an interesting character, more deeply drawn than most of Plautus' other figures, who tend to be comic stereotypes. He is shown as capable of cruelty and quite impulsive, but also as generous and ultimately sympathetic. The master-slave relationship between Philocrates and Tyndarus is also portrayed with a sensitivity rare in Plautus, who actually congratulates himself on his unaccustomed seriousness in the play's prologue. Still, Plautus